The year 2023 will mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Pietro Vannucci, ''Il Perugino'' (Città della Pieve 1446 - Fontignano, Perugia, 1523), one of the symbols par excellence of the city of Perugia, the greatest exponent of Umbrian painting and a great master of the Italian Renaissance.

From 4 March to 11 June 2023, on the occasion of his celebration, the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia will inaugurate a major exhibition entitled “Il meglio maestro d’Italia. Perugino nel suo tempo'', curated by Marco Pierini, director of the National Gallery of Umbria, and Veruska Picchiarelli, curator of the Perugia museum.

An extraordinary exhibition to restore the artist to the role of artistic prominence that the public and his era had assigned him, presenting his greatest masterpieces, all dating from before 1504, the year in which he worked on three commissions that marked the high point of his career: the Crocifissione for the Chigi Chapel in Sant'Agostino in Siena, the Lotta fra Amore e Castità already in Mantua, now in the Louvre in Paris, and above all the Sposalizio della Vergine for the Chapel of the Holy Ring in Perugia Cathedral, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen, France.

Dal 4 Marzo all’11 Giugno 2023, in occasione della sua celebrazione la Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria di Perugia inaugurerà una grande mostra dal titolo “Il meglio maestro d’Italia. Perugino nel suo tempo'', curata da Marco Pierini, direttore della Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, e Veruska Picchiarelli, conservatrice del museo perugino.

With more than seventy works, the exhibition will give an account of the fundamental stages of his career in the most comprehensive manner possible: from his first collaborations in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop to the capital Florentine enterprises that made his fortune (such as the three panels already in San Giusto alle Mura, now in the Uffizi Galleries, or the San Domenico Altarpiece in Fiesole); from the extraordinary portraits to the monumental altarpieces, such as the Galitzin Triptych, now in the National Gallery in Washington, and the Polyptych of the Certosa di Pavia, largely in the National Gallery in London and exceptionally recomposed for the occasion.

And again, the exhibition will reflect on the role that Vannucci actually played in the contemporary art scene in the relationship that linked him to the protagonists of that era, following geographically the movements of the painter or his works through Italy. It is surprising, in fact, how Perugino left deep traces of his magisterium in all the localities of the peninsula touched by his activity, from north to south, starting of course with Umbria and Tuscany, the theatres par excellence of his work, as well as the headquarters of his workshops in Perugia and Florence.

Hours: daily from 8.30 am to 7.30 pm, with last admission 6.30 pm. 

Special openings: every Friday from 31 March to 9 June from 7.30 p.m. to 11.30 p.m., with last admission at 10.30 p.m. Saturday 22 April and Tuesday 25 April. 

For more information:

https://gallerianazionaledellumbria.it/